Friday, May 11, 2012

Stepping Out On Faith - Bonnie St. John

"Darcy . . .”

“Yeah, Mom?”

I momentarily held the undivided
attention of my teenage daughter. Her thumbs, free of their
ubiquitous texting keypad, quietly dangled by her side. Her computer
and its omnipresent Facebook page were completely out of sight. I had
almost forgotten what she looked like without all these adolescent
accoutrements. As we sat down together on the burgundy leather sofa
in our living room, I realized this fleeting state of electronic
dislocation was my chance to hatch a plan I had been formu- lating
for the past several weeks. Carpe diem.

“How would you like to write a book
together?”

“About what?” I asked my mom. Write
a book? This was a real surprise. I felt a bit suspicious, but still
curious. I love to write, and Mom kept telling me I was really good
at it. I like writing poetry, fantasy, and sci-fi, though. The books
Mom wrote were all nonfiction. I wondered what we could possibly do
together.

“Well . . .” I hesitated. If I
wanted her to commit to any extra work out- side her busy schedule at
school—not to mention work alongside her mother—I had to make
this really great. “It would be about women as leaders,” I
continued, “a mother-daughter investigation into leadership styles
and structures.”

“Leadership?” I blurted. It came
out as if I had a bad taste in my mouth—which I did. I couldn’t
imagine a more boring topic to write about. What is there to say
about leadership anyway? When you’re in charge, you just get things
done, right? Who wants to talk about that?

Her furrowed brow told me I was losing
her fast. “Um . . . we could find women leaders all around the
world!” I said impulsively, frantically casting the ultimate bait.

“Really? Would we get to travel a
lot?” I hadn’t thought about that. Heck, I’d write about the
mating habits of tsetse flies if I got to go to Africa to do it!

But this project wasn’t just about
the influence it would have on Darcy. I wanted to do something that
could have a potent impact on an alarming trend I had witnessed in
workplaces across the country: far too many women appeared to be
making a choice not to apply for top leadership positions when
presented with the opportunities to do so.

This project, then, was a bit of a
Trojan horse. On the one hand, the saga of a mother-daughter journey
could seduce female readers, who might never bother to read the
Harvard Business School dissertations on the subject, into a
meaningful conversation about leadership. At the same time, if Darcy
met a series of brilliant, accomplished women— people even a
cynical teen would be in awe of—perhaps they could tell her all the
things I’d like her to know—and more.

And she just might listen.

But where to start? How would we make
it work? I suggested we do most of our research by phone, as I did
for How Strong Women Pray. My telephone interviews with a governor,
some CEOs, actors, sports figures, a college president, and others
yielded great stories and information. I promised my intrepid
co-author, though, that we could punctuate these conversations with a
few visits in person to exciting and exotic places—all with
reasonably priced airfares.

“Why don’t we follow each subject
as she goes about her daily life? That way our readers get to come
along with us and get a behind- the-scenes look at what happens to
them. Instead of just a boring interview, we—and our readers—get
to hang around with these women, see them in their natural habitat,
and even see how other people treat them.”

Although I agreed it was a wonderful
approach, this idea of “job- shadowing” each featured subject
wasn’t going to be easy. Would these high-powered, important women
deign to allow us that kind of access? Would they be able to impart
the kind of wisdom that would resonate with our readers and truly
make a difference in their lives? We looked at each other, both of
us hooked on a crazy idea that we weren’t sure we could pull off.

“It sounds impossible, Darcy,” I
said. “We might as well get started.”

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About Me

After being a stay at home mom for 12 years to 3 wonderful children, I decided to enter back in to the workforce, and what better place to work full-time than at my local library! For an avid reader like myself, this is a job made in heaven! Another way I read free books is by doing reviews for straightoffthepage.com and other publishing companies!
I love what I do, and can often be found with a book in one hand and an iced coffee in the other!